Appeals Officers Will No Longer Talk To Examiners Ex Parte

Currently, IRS Appeals Officers are encouraged to speak to the IRS examiners concerning issues raised in the examination report. Indeed, for taxpayers in the Coordinated Examination Program, meetings between Appeals Officers and examiners are mandatory. Appeals Officers may also speak to Revenue Officers when reviewing a Revenue Officer's denial of a taxpayer's offer in compromise. Typically, the taxpayer is not allowed to participate in such contacts.

Practitioners complained to Congress that these ex parte contacts bias the Appeals Officers in their quasi-judicial role. Accordingly, Congress enacted Act section 1001(a)(4), which directs the IRS Commissioner in his forthcoming reorganization plan to "ensure an independent appeals function within the Internal Revenue Service, including the prohibition in the plan of ex parte communications between appeals officers and other Internal Revenue Service employees to the extent that such communications appear to compromise the independence of the appeals officers." Presumably, this means that Appeals Officers cannot speak to examining agents about substantive issues outside the taxpayer's presence. However, Appeals Officers will probably still be able to speak ex parte on non-substantive issues -- e.g., to ask the examining agent about missing pieces of the administrative file. Since the Commissioner has not yet finalized his reorganization, the ex parte contact ban has not yet been put into effect.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.